The Department of English firmly believes that financial barriers should not limit students from pursuing our program. Therefore, extensive efforts are put into supporting each and every graduate student within our department to ensure secure funding for their degree and opportunities throughout the program.
Guaranteed Funding Package
During your years at Queen's, we will ensure that you have the following minimum financial support. This support usually includes some combination of a teaching assistantship (assisting in a course) or teaching fellowship (instructing your own course); graduate awards, bursaries or competitive fellowships from Queen's; research assistantships or other supervisor support; and competitive awards and fellowships from governmental agencies, such as SSHRC and OGS.
In recent years, our minimum funding has been higher as the Department always endeavours to increase this. The most up to date funding can be found at School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs: Funding Packages and Awards & Bursaries. You can also contact our Graduate Chair in the Department of English.
For the PhD program, we have a 4-year funding package with some opportunity for funding in the 5th year. In addition to our 4-year funding package, there are opportunities for employment with the teaching fellowship.
As a part of our professionalization seminar, all graduate students are coached in grant-writing techniques and apply for external funding from agencies such as:
- SSHRC (whose awards are usually $20,000 or $35,000 per year)
- OGS (whose awards are $15,000 per year)
Additionally, incoming graduate students who win federal government tri-council awards are automatically provided a $5,000 (MA, MPhil) or $10,000 (PhD) Tri-Agency Recipient Recognition Award (TARRA) from Queen’s.
Note: (1) Award support from Queen's University sources is variable and may be reduced or omitted in a funding combination when the guaranteed minimum is exceeded by awards granted by Canadian provincial or federal government sources. (2) Funding offers do not include tuition waivers. (3) All funding rules follow the policies of the Queen's School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs.
Conference Travel Awards
The Department administers conference travel awards for graduate students to present peer-reviewed papers at major professional conferences in their fields. For complete details and award amounts for the current academic year, see the application form.
Teaching Assistantships
Our Teaching Assistantships offer a competitive rate of pay and meaningful teaching experience. Doctoral students gain valuable training and increasing levels of pedagogical responsibility throughout their program as they normally progress from grading, meeting with students, and some lecture opportunities as Teaching Assistants in year 1 to regular seminar instruction as Tutorial Leaders in years 2 and 3, to designers and instructors of their own course as Teaching Fellows in year 4 or 5. The duties of Master’s level TAs are generally focused on marking and meeting with students. All Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows are represented by PSAC Local 901.
| Tier | Level | Hours Per Term | Primary Duties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MA | 76 | Meeting with students, marking essays |
| 1 | MPhil years 1 and 2 | 76 | Meeting with students, marking essays |
| 1 | PhD year 1 | 88 | Meeting with students, marking essays, and leading two to three lectures over two terms |
| 2 | PhD years 2, 3, 4 | 120 | Tutorial Leaders for ENGL 100: TAs are responsible for a group of about 30 students for whom they lead one tutorial per week and whose term work they evaluate |
| 3 | PhD year 4 or 5 | ~ | Teaching Fellowships: students are invited to apply for full-responsibility teaching assignments for one term-long course |
International Student Funding and Support
International students in our doctoral program receive a minimum funding guarantee of $20,000 per year.
International tuition for PhD students is the same as domestic students.
If you are applying as an international student to the MPhil or MA program, please contact our Graduate Chair, prior to applying. In general, we lack the funding needed to support international MA and MPhil students.
The School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs gives a detailed description of scholarships and awards for International Students.
Please be advised that many external scholarships (e.g., SSHRC, OGS) have residency requirements and are only open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
The Registrar’s Office has sample budgets for International Students, and we recommend that you consult Registrar Office’s sample budgets to get a sense of what expenses may be associated with your graduate studies. Visit the Registrar’s Office website for the most up to date tuition fees.
For detailed information for International Students, please visit the following websites: School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and QUIC (Queen’s University International Centre).
Testimonials from International Students
"I always found support at Queen's - be it from the student body or the faculty. It was not easy for me these past few years but I was able to overcome every challenge with the help of the Queen’s and Department of English community."
-International student, PhD candidate in English at Queen’s
